Heagle-Wright 1

Thomas Heagle-Wright
Professor Hiesterman
Medical Sociology
9/26/2016
Relatively young, white men, coming from lower class families may not sound like the
most diverse group of people, but they are abundant and come with multiple health conditions
that they must deal with. Things like alcoholism, lower education, higher suicide rates and
mental issues, lower overall status of health due to lack of access to proper health care are all
things this demographic must deal with.
With young men in general substance abuse is a major health concern. While one in ten
women have reported heavy drinking, one and five men have reported dealing with heavy
drinking. The rates for these were highest among young white men at 58.2% binge drinking and
26.2% heavily abusing alcohol. This leads to physical violence, impairment, later mental health
issues, dependence, and deaths from DUIs and alcohol poisoning. Almost two thirds, (64.5%) of
young men who report current heavy alcohol use, also are current users of illicit drugs, compared
to a minuscule 5.1% of nondrinkers. This is an obvious health concern that can be addressed in
the future. Trying to combat substance use, particularly high levels of such use, helps form a vital
component of promoting mental health. A structural functionalist view on this problem may that
alcohol and illicit drugs will fade away out of society with the clear problems they bring upon
society and that society will allow itself to be rid of these issues naturally over time. A symbolic
interactionist theory on this situation may deal with how alcohol and illicit drugs are used in
today as power symbols and status symbols especially among todays young men and how they
often use them to deal with their problems.

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When it comes to mental health issues young men suffer from a wide variety of health
disorders. On the issue of suicide, young men have a higher suicide rate than that of women by at
least a factor of three in early adolescence and raises to a factor of seven by early adulthood!
These high rates suggest a clear indicator of depression among young men. It has even been
stated that one in five high school have stated to experience sadness and hopelessness that
interferes with their lives. Ways to battle this issue could be to allow it to be more acceptable for
men to open up about their problems and seek help in todays society. Often men are viewed as
lesser then if they express feelings of being depressed or sad. Young men are supposed to be
strong and confident and if said otherwise they are looked down upon and the societal pressure
from this can often lead to many cases of depression. Young me also suffer from mental
disorders like ADHD at a surprising rate compared to females. Young males are almost three
times more likely to suffer from ADHD and are also more likely to have a learning disability
which also comes with negative outcomes like violent behavior, and higher suicide attempts.
Young men that also come from lower class, poor families often struggle to get proper
healthcare access. Young adults in general have the highest uninsured rate among any age group.
This is especially true for the poor and young men have a slightly higher percentage of uninsured
then women do. Young adults often will have to forgo getting the needed and recommended
medication due to price costs and will often never see a physician at all because of it. This leads
to multiple health issues like, injury, infection, debilitating issues like needing epi-pens but the
costs are too steep and can lead to death in severe cases. Young men forgo seeing any medical
help and have no source of care more than any other demographic group. There are many
policies for improving access to healthcare for young adults. Doing things like increasing the
cut-off age of parental insurance. Increasing public coverage like Medicaid for those who are

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unemployed and improving college-health plans to provide more services to more part- and fulltime students especially those who come from low class families.
Young males coming from lower income families also struggle to get the proper
education when compared to those in upper class families. Upper and middle class families have
reported to read to their children 66% more often than lower class families! Parents with less
than a high school education which also happens to coincide with low income families are said to
provide less cognitive stimulation to their children, giving less guidance and show less strategy
to their children when reading to them. Children coming from low income families have as high
as a 15% more chance of getting arrested as an adult and are 31% more likely to drop out of high
school and continue the cycle they were born into. Children coming from low income families
often come from single-mother households which causes stress on the family leading to stress,
depression, alcohol abuse as adults, and lack of proper parent-child time to improve cognitive
abilities and overall child mental health. Things like better wealth distribution and better
educational funding and resources for those in low income areas are ways to improve upon this
disparity. More clubs and groups dedicated to better education throughout the city like boys n
girls clubs with proper funding are also ways to improve upon these issues. More funding for
proper home care for single-mother and single-father homes that allow children to thrive even
when their parent cannot always be around. A conflict theory of this is that adequate resources
like education and proper materials will always go to those of higher social class and standing.
That those in higher power will sustain this upper ground of better education and materials to
maintain their position of power and keep those of lower class below them so that they can
continue to succeed. This is a negative look but does not state that those from low income

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families cannot succeed themselves if they work and use their resources to the extreme and work
their way to the top of the social class food chain.

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Works cited
1."Five Social Disadvantages That Depress Student Performance: Why Schools Alone Cant
Close Achievement Gaps." Economic Policy Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.
2. James, Adelbert B., and William Chamberlain A. "Detection of Chlamydial Infections in Highrisk Asymptomatic Adolescent and Young Adult Males Using Nucleic Acid-amplification Test."
Journal of Adolescent Health 36.2 (2005): 131-32. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.
3.Williams, David R. "The Health of Men: Structured Inequalities and Opportunities." American
Journal of Public Health. American Journal of Public Health 2003, May 2003. Web. 26 Sept.
2016.